Two students from Bavaria turned to the Constitutional Court, picking fruit, vegetables and other foodstuffs from a container near the supermarket, which the store had disposed of as degraded or with an expired minimum shelf life. The girls justified their actions as a protest against the waste of food that can still be used.
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However, because the bin was locked and ready to be taken away, the lower court called their behavior a theft, for which they ordered eight hours of community service.
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The students refused to accept the punishment and appealed. However, the Bavarian High Court dismissed the appeal and stood up for the previous judgment, according to which even the worthlessness of the case does not entitle anyone to appropriate it. The Constitutional Court stated that the procedure of lower courts was not in conflict with constitutional rights and that the courts did not misjudge the evidence.
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Free collection of the contents of garbage cans is not possible even in the Czech Republic, where such conduct can be assessed as a misdemeanor or a criminal offense. Waste in containers belongs to the city or another owner of the bin. A possible fine can then reach the order of tens of thousands of crowns, and the sentence of imprisonment is not excluded.
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